A Maverick Under The Mistletoe

by Brenda Harlen

  She polished off the last of her cake, then picked up her mug of coffee and sipped.

  “Do you want me to apologize for the flowers?” he asked.

  She glanced at the colorful blossoms and sighed softly. “No. I don’t want you to apologize.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you to go back to Seattle.” She looked at him now, her gaze steady and sure. “I need you to go back to Seattle.”

  Chapter Six

  Paige saw the disappointment and hurt on his face, but she didn’t—couldn’t—let herself be swayed by emotion. He’d asked what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to feel guilty about giving him an honest answer.

  Except that deep in her heart, she knew that it wasn’t an honest answer. She didn’t want Sutter to go back to Seattle—she wanted him to stay in Rust Creek Falls forever. But she knew that wasn’t an option, so the next best thing was for him to leave as soon as possible before she started wishing for things she knew she couldn’t have.

  “Because you’re afraid of what might happen between us if I stay,” he guessed.

  Paige didn’t know what irritated her more—the cockiness of his tone or the fact that he was right. Of course, she had no intention of admitting as much.

  “Nothing’s going to happen between us,” she told him in her firmest teacher voice.

  “Something already happened,” he reminded her.

  “You kissed me,” she acknowledged in a deliberately casual tone. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “I might have started it, but you kissed back pretty good,” he pointed out. “In fact, I’d say a lot better than pretty good. And it was a big deal.”

  She felt her cheeks flush. “I did kiss you back, and I shouldn’t have.”

  “Because you feel guilty about Alex?”

  It was an easy excuse, and preferable to the truth—which was that one kiss from Sutter had made her want a lot more kisses, a lot more touching, a lot more everything. And that was a dangerous way of thinking.

  “No,” she admitted. “Alex and I aren’t seeing one another anymore. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have no intention of starting something with you again.”

  “I’d say it’s already started,” he told her.

  She shook her head.

  “Are you really trying to deny the chemistry between us?”

  “We didn’t break up because of a lack of chemistry,” she reminded him.

  “You’re right,” he admitted. “But the more time I spend with you, the more difficult it is to remember why we did break up.”

  “Because you were determined to get out of Rust Creek Falls and I didn’t want to leave. And that hasn’t changed.”

  “Maybe it has,” he said. “Why won’t you at least give us a chance?”

  She shook her head again.

  “I’m not the same man I was five years ago,” he told her. “And I’m not going to walk away from what I want this time.”

  “Whether you stay or go is your choice—but don’t make the mistake of thinking it has anything to do with me.”

  “If I stay, will you go out with me?”

  “No.”

  “I’m not asking you to make any life-altering decisions, I’m just asking you to spend some time with me.”

  She picked up the empty plates and carried them to the sink. She refused to let herself even think about his invitation. No good would come from spending time with Sutter—and despite her assurance to her sisters, she knew that her heart wasn’t nearly as Sutter proof as she wanted to believe. In fact, it was already softening as her resolve was weakening.

  “Just one date,” he cajoled. “And if you don’t have a good time with me, I’ll back off.”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” he assured her.

  “Just one date?” she asked, still skeptical.

  “One date. Whatever you want to do.”

  Paige considered for another minute, her common sense warring with her curiosity. And in the back of her mind, it occurred to her that if he was offering to do anything she wanted, she really could use his help with something. She finally nodded. “Okay.”

  “How does tomorrow night sound?”

  She shook her head. “Tomorrow morning. Early.”

  “How early?”

  “You can pick me up at eight.”

  * * *

  Sutter suspected that his Saturday-morning date with Paige was going to be unlike any other date he’d ever experienced. His first clue was the hour—obviously she wasn’t planning a candlelit dinner and romantic movie, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that he would get to spend time with Paige. But as he made his way into town Saturday morning, it occurred to him that the only time he’d been at a woman’s house at eight in the morning was when he’d spent the night before in her bed.

  Unfortunately, he hadn’t spent Friday night in Paige’s bed. But he did pick up breakfast for both of them—if donuts and coffee from Daisy’s Donuts could be considered breakfast. Since she hadn’t told him what their plan was for the day, he’d dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt with his favorite leather jacket. He’d nicked his jaw when he was shaving, so he double-checked his face in the rearview mirror to make sure he didn’t have any tissue stuck to the cut before he exited the vehicle.

  She met him at the door, obviously eager to get going—wherever it was they were going. She was dressed just as casually in jeans, a zip-up hoodie and jean jacket. But he couldn’t help but notice how the softly faded jeans molded to the sweet curve of her buttocks, or how the layers she wore on top emphasized the slenderness of her frame. She had running shoes on her feet and her long dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

  Aside from the simple silver hoops that hung from her ears and the pink gloss on her lips, she wore no decorations or makeup. Of course, Paige had the kind of natural beauty that didn’t require any artificial enhancement. She looked young and fresh and as beautiful as always. And when she smiled at him, his heart actually ached.

  “You made it.” Her eyes lit on the paper cup holder in his hand and her smile widened. “And you brought coffee?”

  “And donuts,” he told her.

  “What kind?”

  “Powdered sugar with lemon filling.”

  She reached for the bag. “It’s not fair that you know all my weaknesses.”

  “And some much more interesting ones than cheesecake and powdered-sugar donuts.”

  “One date,” she reminded him, pulling a donut out of the bag. “And then you’re going to back off.”

  She sounded so optimistic he might have been insulted if he didn’t believe that her desperation to get him out of her life was a reflection of the depth of her feelings for him. “I will back off,” he agreed. “If you don’t have a good time.”

  She bit into the donut. “The fact that I’m going to enjoy this doesn’t count.”

  “Okay, the good-time register doesn’t start until the coffee and donuts are done and we’re at… Where are we going?”

  “To the elementary school.”

  “Isn’t it still under repair?”

  “Yep.” Her lips curved, just a little. “You know how to swing a hammer, cowboy?”

  “I think I can figure it out.”

  * * *

  The repair of the school was coming along slowly but surely. The first part—tearing out everything that had been damaged by the flood—had been completed fairly quickly thanks to the large number of residents who had volunteered to help out. The second part—rebuilding what had been destroyed—was a bigger task, and a more costly one. Numerous delays had held up the work, mostly resulting from a lack of funding.

  The school board’s insurance company was dragging its feet, insisting that more information was needed before it could settle the claim. Of course, without money there wasn’t a lot that could be done. Some supplies had been donated, and a small fund had been collected from residents to help wi
th the rebuild.

  But the reality was that almost every family in Rust Creek Falls had been affected by the flood, and while everyone wanted to help, most were in the same predicament, with their time and resources stretched too thin to be able to stretch any further. Even the generous donation that Lissa Roarke, a transplanted Manhattanite now engaged to Gage Christensen, had procured from a New York-based nonprofit organization called Bootstraps hadn’t been enough to finance the project.

  So Paige was more than a little surprised when they arrived and found twice the usual number of volunteers and every one of them busy at work. The site was buzzing, not just with activity but with information. Apparently Lissa had recently appeared on a national morning show to discuss the plight of Rust Creek Falls, and the result had been an unexpected influx of both monetary donations and building supplies. Having funds and materials made a huge difference, and of course the townspeople had done the rest, volunteering their time and labor. Those who couldn’t provide physical labor brought other things to the table—literally.

  A handful of picnic tables had been set up on the property and from noon until about two o’clock, there were platters of sandwiches and a steady supply of Crock-Pots filled with hot soups and stews to fuel the workers. There were also plates of cookies, bowls of fruit and vats of coffee.

  Paige and Sutter focused their efforts on her fifth-grade classroom. They worked with Dean and Nick Pritchett, who expertly measured, cut and installed the last of the drywall, following behind to tape and mud the seams and nails. Of course, Dean and Nick were finished long before Paige and Sutter, leaving the two of them working alone together for most of the afternoon.

  “Is this how you spend every Saturday?”

  “For the past few weeks,” she admitted. “For a long time there wasn’t anything to do because we were stuck waiting for permits and funding. Considering that, it’s amazing how much progress has been made in such a short time.”

  “Are all of the teachers here?”

  “Not just teachers, but support and admin staff, parents and a lot of citizens who have no direct interest in the school and their own work to do. It’s the way that towns like Rust Creek Falls work.”

  “I haven’t been gone that long,” he noted drily.

  “I know,” she admitted. But at times it had felt like forever. “And I know life in the big city hasn’t changed you too much.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because you came all the way from Seattle when you heard about the flood.”

  “It isn’t all that far.”

  But she knew that it was. More than five hundred miles, and there were times she felt as if it might as well have been five thousand because of the distance the move put between her and Sutter.

  “Well, I know it meant a lot to your family, that you came home.” She leaned over and touched her lips to his cheek. “And it meant a lot to me that you were willing to help out here today.”

  When she started to draw back, he slipped his arm around her waist and held her close. “I was willing to do anything, so long as it meant spending some time with you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I miss you. I didn’t even realize how much until I came home and saw you again.”

  She’d missed him, too, which was exactly why she didn’t want to go down the same path again. “Spending time together is only going to make it harder when you leave again.”

  “But you had a good time today, didn’t you?”

  “I feel good about what we accomplished here,” she allowed.

  “C’mon, Paige. Just admit you had a good time.”

  “I had a good time.”

  “Me, too,” he said, and smiled as he lowered his head toward her.

  She lifted her hands to his chest. “What are you doing?”

  “You kissed me,” he said. “Now it’s my turn to kiss you.”

  “It was just to thank you for helping out today.”

  His mouth hovered just a fraction of an inch above hers. “Then you can consider this a thank-you for letting me help out,” he said, and captured her lips.

  Paige knew she should pull away, because letting Sutter kiss her again was a tried-and-true recipe for heartbreak. But as soon as his mouth touched hers, all thoughts of resistance were forgotten. In that first moment of contact, she couldn’t seem to focus on any of the dozens of reasons that this was a bad idea. She could only think that this was exactly what she wanted.

  Her eyes drifted shut; her body swayed toward him. His hands slid up her back, drawing her closer. He tilted her head back, deepened the kiss. The hands she’d lifted to hold him at a distance slid over his shoulders to toy with the soft, silky strands of hair that touched his collar.

  He touched the tip of his tongue to her lips, delved inside when they parted for him. Her arms had wrapped around him and her breasts were crushed against his chest, her hips aligned with his. Despite the layers of clothes between them, she could feel the heat of his body, the imprint of his hands, the press of his erection. Heat rushed through her veins, pooled low in her belly.

  There was definitely chemistry between them.

  Very potent chemistry.

  But as she’d reminded him the night of the election, the attraction between them had never been the issue. Right now, in the comfort of his arms, she had trouble remembering what the issue had been. What had come between them? And why had she ever let him go?

  When he finally eased his lips from hers, they were both breathless. After a moment, he said, “Now that makes it official.”

  She realized that she was still in his arms, her cheek resting against the warm flannel of his shirt so that she could feel the steady beat of his heart. She forced herself to take a step back. “Makes what official?”

  “It’s not really a date unless it ends with a kiss,” he told her.

  It was the perfect excuse to say goodbye and find her own way home. They’d spent the day together working at the school—not a traditional date by any stretch of the imagination, but he had allowed her to choose the venue—and now it was over.

  And yet she heard herself say, “If our date is ended, does that mean you’re not going to buy me dinner?”

  He seemed just as surprised as she was by the words that came out of her mouth, but he recovered quickly. “I’ll buy you dinner,” he agreed readily. “But I think I’m going to need a shower first.”

  She glanced down at her mud-spattered clothes. “Me, too.”

  “You know, it would conserve water if we took that shower together,” he suggested.

  She shook her head. “Your environmental consciousness is impressive, but I don’t see that happening.”

  He just grinned. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  * * *

  Paige had just stripped out of her clothes when there was a knock on the door. Thinking that Sutter had forgotten something—or was pretending that he’d forgotten something in the hope of catching her half-dressed—she hastily tugged on her robe and went to the door.

  “Yes, I believe in conserving…” The words faded away when she realized it wasn’t Sutter on her porch but her middle brother. “Oh, Travis. Hi.”

  His brows drew together as his gaze skimmed over the robe. “You were expecting someone else?”

  She sighed and stepped away from the door. “I wasn’t expecting anyone. Sutter just left and—”

  “So that was him—the guy you were with at the school?”

  “Yes, we were both at the school.” She went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of the beer that she kept on hand for whenever one of her brothers visited—which they rarely did.

  Anderson, Travis and Caleb were all busy with their own lives, but she knew that they were never far away. And though she didn’t often call on them for help, it was comforting to know that they were close if she needed anything.

  Her brother’s scowl deepened as he twisted the cap off the bottle. “Why was he there?”r />
  “Because we need all the help we can get if we have any hope of getting the kids back into that building for the beginning of the new year,” she reminded him. “Why are you here?”

  He straddled one of the stools at the island. “I ran into Nate as I was fueling up at the gas station.”

  “And that was so noteworthy you had to stop by to tell me about it?” Since it seemed as if her brother was settling in, she considered pulling another beer out of the fridge for herself. Except that she was going to be seeing Sutter again in a while, and the last thing she needed was to have her ability to think clearly compromised by alcohol, especially when just being near Sutter tended to cloud her mind.

  “I stopped by because he happened to mention that he’d seen you with Sutter Traub.”

  She doubted he had just happened to mention it—knowing Nate Crawford, it was more likely he’d deliberately tattled to her big brother. “So?”

  He frowned at her response. “You’re not denying it?”

  She leaned back against the counter and folded her arms across her chest. “Rust Creek Falls is hardly a booming metropolis. As long as Sutter’s in town our paths are going to cross, and I don’t have to explain my actions to anyone—not to you and certainly not to Nate Crawford.”

  “What about to Alex Monroe?”

  “My relationship with Alex isn’t any of your business, either,” she told him. “But if it was, I would tell you that we aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

  “Because of Sutter?”

  “Because our relationship wasn’t going anywhere.”

  “I always liked Sutter, but I don’t want you to get hurt again,” Travis said sincerely.

  “I don’t want that either, but I’m not going to cut Sutter out of my life just because we have a history.”

  “It’s not the history that worries me but the present,” he said.

  “You don’t need to worry at all,” she assured him.

  “Just…be careful.”

  “I always am. That’s why I’ve got half a dozen condoms in my purse.”

  His jaw dropped open; she laughed.

  “Relax, Trav. I’m kidding.”

  He closed his mouth, cleared his throat. “Actually, I hope you’re not kidding. Not that I want to know about your sex life—or even if you have one—but if you do, you should take precautions.”